Comparison of the products of the reaction of 7-methylbenz(a)anthracene 5,6-oxide and RNA, with those formed in 7-methylbenz(a)anthracene-treated cells.

RNA was isolated by a phenol extraction method from mouse embryo cells treated in culture with either [G-3H]-7-methylbenz(a)anthracene or [G-3H]-7-methylbenz(a)anthracene 5,6-oxide (the K-region epoxide). The RNA was degraded to ribonucleosides, mixed with ultraviolet-absorbing quantities of the epoxide ribonucleoside products isolated from RNA that had reacted with 7-methylbenz(a)anthracene 5,6-oxide in aqueous ethanol solution, and chromatographed on a column of Sephadex LH-20 eluted with a methanol:water gradient. The 7-methyl-benz(a)anthracene 5,6-oxide ribonucleoside products formed in cells were identical to those formed in aqueous solution, although the relative amounts of the products varied. The majority of these epoxide-ribonucleoside products were not identical to the products formed in cells treated with the parent hydrocarbon. These results suggest that the major reactive form of 7-methylbenz(a)anthracene that binds to RNA in mouse embryo cells is not the K-region epoxide of this hydrocarbon.